For anyone who owns an iPhone, there's a good chance they would have considered an Apple Watch at some point. Even if you're not a watch lover, there's a certain charm and appeal to the Apple Watch that makes it a sought-after piece of hardware. It's stuffy but makes a bold fashion statement, and goes well with pretty much any type of outfit. The only challenge, however, is that the Apple Watch doesn't come cheap. In fact, when it comes to smartwatches, the Apple Watch is among the highest tiers when it comes to pricing. So, what do you do if you're an iPhone user but — whether it's due to budget constraints or dislike of the Apple Watch — want a smartwatch? You are looking for alternatives. And that's what we're going to do in this post – list some of the best smartwatch options that work with an iPhone but don't come with an Apple tag.

Note: While the primary goal here is to list Apple Watch alternatives that work with the iPhone, if you're an Android user and want an Apple Watch alternative, we've got you covered. Almost all of our recommendations, even non-Android Wear ones, will work with most Android phones as well.

We have to lump Android Wear into one big category because it's been a while since smartwatches running Google's operating system have been compatible with iOS devices. The trend started with the Huawei Watch, which was compatible with any iPhone running iOS 8 or higher, and so far, pretty much all new Android Wear devices have been able to work with iPhones. The caveat is that this functionality is quite limited, but if you just need your watch to give you notifications, it should be enough. It also helps that outside of watchOS, Android Wear is probably the most stable smartwatch experience you'll get out there.

Let's take a look at some of the notable Android Wear watches that you can use with your iPhone or Android smartphone. We won't go into their functionality because all of these smartwatches run Android Wear at their core, so there's nothing unique in that area.